I don't think there will be a CCK cable included in the kit - Apple has a monopoly on those and they're quite expensive so I doubt they'd throw money at that only for their customers owning iDevices.

Business-wise, it would actually be in favour of Apple even if they'd sell in bulk to iFi at a cheaper price. iFi would be paying per iDSD Micro and the chance that it would be used with an iDevice by the consumer is relatively slim. Thus, it becomes an unnecessary cost on iFi's part. Also, there is also a decent chance that the customer buying the iFi for iDevice use already has a CCK. I honestly don't see the need but if iFi would, why not?

Business-wise, it would actually be in favour of Apple even if they'd sell in bulk to iFi at a cheaper price. ...

Highly unlikely. They hate anybody who uses the letter "i." In fact I'm surprised they haven't sued --- but ifi, being real professionals, must have done their homework on branding and trademarks and stuff long before we ever heard of them in the market.

Highly unlikely. They hate anybody who uses the letter "i." In fact I'm surprised they haven't sued --- but ifi, being real professionals, must have done their homework on branding and trademarks and stuff long before we ever heard of them in the market.

Hmm… I always thought Apple would support the "i"s especially with respectable companies. Then again, Apple capitalizes on brand loyalty… What I meant by my statement was completely terms in potential profit. I wonder, however, how much the buying of Beats would have changed Apple's perception of other audio companies either for better or for worse. Anyways, back to the iDSD…

Most of these filters were trickled-down from AMR’s CD-77 (USD11,400) and DP-777 (USD5,000), so the development cost has already been amortised which has benefited iFi and the micro iDSD.

3 Digital Filters (for PCM)

Bit-Perfect

Minimum Phase

Standard

The Standard filter – does as its name suggests and it “measures the best.”

The Minimum Phase (MP) filter - greatly reduces the unwanted pre and post-ringing of the digital signal and produces a more natural sound. This is the “Super” digital filter for most high-end DACs.

The Bit-Perfect filter – as Jose Mourinho coined, is the “Special One.” It originated in the CD-77 (where we called it Digital Master mode), then on the DP-777 (Bit-Perfect mode). This is the mode that gives the most organic sound. This not only comes from just us but all the users of the CD-77, CD-777 and DP-777. After playing around with the other modes, this is the mode they settled on and don’t have any urge to alter, this mode is highly-addictive. It really does compare to vinyl done well.

Now the micro iDSD features all 3 of these high-end digital filter modes thanks to AMR.

3 Analogue Filters (for DSD)

Top of the range SACD players (SACD is DSD) do have selectable analogue filters, but most DSD capable DACs don’t have any selectable analogue filter, why?

Because for most DSD capable standalone DACs, DSD is only afterthought, hence no selectable analogue filters. However, the micro iDSD was designed ground-up as a native DSD (and native PCM) DAC, DSD is not an afterthought at all. We even name it “iDSD”

Actually, back in the nano iDSD, we already had selectable analogue filters for DSD playback.

In the micro iDSD, we are just bring this to another level and implemented 3 of them:

Ultra-wide Range

Extended Range

Standard Range

There is no “best” one, just pick the one that you like to listen to the most. To us, the most important thing is to have the freedom to have it your way, like that well known “foot long” sandwich.

Not 3 Donuts, but 3 Footlong sandwiches

Having said that, we do like the Ultra-wide Range one but this may not work for everyone, as some of the amplifiers out there don’t like this kind of ultra-wide band width and may produce an unpleasant noise (no damage will ensue).

Digital Filters - Reload

With iFi, even though we bring up measurements, you will often find we always say, they are more exclusive than mutual: each should be taken in their own right.

Which digital filter is more relevant to measurement and which one is more relevant to listening to music?

To answer this question, we must bear in the mind that the following:

A Sine wave is more useful for measurement and testing, a music signal is more impulse-like.

So if one wants to measure the performance of a DAC, we recommend using the Standard filter, which give the “best performance” on a sine wave signal.

However, for normal real-world listening, the Minimum Phase filter will be a more accurate reproduction of an impulse signal when compare to a Standard one; however the most important thing to note is that the Bit-Perfect filter will give the MOST accurate reproduction of an impulse signal.

i.e. for the most accurate reproduction of an impulse signal (which music signal is more akin to), in order of accuracy: Bit-Perfect > Minimum Phase > Standard.

Which one would you rather listen to? We do not mind. Because you can choose yourself with the micro iDSD.

We have our preference but the customer should always come to their own sonic conclusion.

Over the last few weeks we kept you guessing OTW#1 but along the way, gave some clues:

i. 3 Donuts

ii. Mention of “Damp squid”

iii. Picture of Godzilla and wrestling with Gezora

The ANSWER was that the micro iDSD is capable of OCTA-SPEED DSD512 and not only that but also PCM768kHz and 2xDXD (it is mega on all 3 formats)

Capable of full DSD512 and 768kHz PCM (2xDXD) directly from the computer to the micro iDSD via USB, natively with NO conversion - we have had to bite our lip as we have been absolutely gagging to tell you but had to keep refraining from letting anything slip.

We have probably driven you all rabidly insane guessing OTW#1 but now it is finally out, we hope you are positively salivating as the prospect of enjoying some stonking audio quality that is not a quantum leap but an Octa-Leap!

OTW#1: Octa-DSD512/PC768kHz/2xDXD

Background

Computer audio technology is advancing at breakneck speed. AMR/iFi is at the cutting-edge of this. The upcoming micro iDSD propels our market-defining position even further ahead.

We have made extensive enquiries and to the best of our knowledge, the micro iDSD will be the very first DAC in the world capable of ALL 3 of the following, native: Octa-Speed DSD512, PCM768kHz and 2xDXD!!! (Up/OverSampling does not count, sorry!)

By comparison, even the most expensive DACs in the world costing upwards of US$50,000, are a little “old hat” as they are several format levels behind only now, attaining:

DSD128 (one or two at DSD 256)

PCM384kHz

The iFi micro iDSD feature set means it has blasted light years ahead to bring true high-end technology to the mass market.

To summarise the micro iDSD’s Outta This World features:

Outta This World #1 Octa-Speed DSD512/PCM768/2xDXD

Outta This World #2 Perfect-Match with Headphone Power modes and iEMatch

Outta This World #3 Turbo headamp power output of 8v/4000mW

The micro iDSD is available in stores mid-July so you are only ~two weeks from having the Micro iDSD in the palm of your hand.

Explanation

We are all in the pursuit of ever better quality of audio playback. DSD is in resurgence and shows no signs of abating. PCM should cannot be ignored as the library of PCM vs DSD recordings is still overwhelmingly in favour of PCM.

For us, we don’t favour one format over the other. We enjoy both and we believe you should do too. The hard part is to source music on each format – life is too short to worry about which format is “better” we’d rather you enjoy both to the highest possible standard.

How this benefits the listener

Since we have been running this Crowd-Design project, along the way, we hope you have gathered a better sense of why we do not concern ourselves so much with each format, but offer the widest choice possible whilst making a recommendation based upon what we like, but always advising that you find what you like.

In this case, by being able to select the correct format for each file type, you have ensured a chain that is

DSD recording > DSD playback

Or

PCM recording > PCM playback

This matters because we strongly believe that the original cannot be bettered and should be retained end-to-end (i.e. not just on the playback side as we always talk about the whole chain).

With this OTW#1, Quad-Speed DSD256 recordings are now making a breakthrough and we have it on good authority that Pyramix and Sonoma which are already on the Quad-Speed DSD256 standard will see a revision in 3Q 2014 to enable their recording systems to handle Octa-SpeedDSD512.

This does not include the moves by recording studios to also move to a higher sample rate on the PCM format.

What this means for you, the micro iDSD customer is real, hard future-proofing for many years to come. And from day one!

We will also post links to super hi-res music downloads over the coming days. Super hi-res recordings are coming…

From all the staff/directors at AMR/iFi, a big THANK YOU for participating in this Crowd-Design project, you have helped make the micro iDSD one helluva "Meaty Monster!"

And more to come…

Last but not least, within the next few days, we shall outline how the upcoming first production run of micro iDSDs will be special “Octa-Adopter” units. There are extra goodies - these will be collector’s units in the years to come.

I think it would be amusing seeing the reactions of the people who work on third party player apps such as Onkyo HF player, Audirvana, or BitPerfect once they hear that they'll be having to put a display recognizing the new formats when almost all other DACs don't even go past 192kHz.